Richnj

@LtSarge Agreed.

Unlike Sony and Nintendo, cloud saves and voice chat have already been removed from the paid sub. GwG are fine, but not really worth continuing the service. Between BC games, Bethesda, and Activision, free online play could be the final straw for a lot of gamers, and convince them to go xbox.

@InterceptorAlpha People were shouting "Halo is back" while sharing pictures of hundreds of thousands playing on steam and watching on Twitch. And I warned them they were celebrating really early.

These numbers have completely disappeared and I've seen some polls of different Halo communities like mint blitz asking how often people are playing, and more than half have given up playing the game. And these are dedicated Halo fanbases.

The one list the game seems to still be doing well in is the US most played xbox games. It's third, behind COD and Fortnite. But Halo 5 did well there for quite a while too.

@Phantasystar77 what gets me is the amount of crying they do over games they don't play (allegedly).

@NEStalgia The irony here is that I actually have an Xperia lol.

Fable wouldn't work for an "MCC style" game. Firstly because of the lack of MP, secondly because the SP isn't individual levels that allow mix and match.

A Fable collection would ultimately just be a front end loader. And once you're in a game, you aren't coming out for a few hours at least. Unlike MCC which sees you come back to the menu every 15 to 30 mins to start a new session. Wouldn't be MCC like at all. This would be the same problem with anything like Elder Scrolls or Fallout.

Gears would better fit an MCC style game, so would Quake. But both of these have a remaster of the first game already on Xbox One/Series. Doom already has all of its games on current systems so an MCC style game would be pointless unless it's a free upgrade.

Gears is the only game that fits this kind of game.

My gut feeling tells me that any Apple product enjoyer is also a pretty commited PS brand enjoyer, so good luck getting them to swap consoles.

And now we all do it online while others watch. Man knew what he was talking about.

I literaly said to my partner the day the buyout news broke, that I expected them to drop the yearly releases (looking back at my comments here, I even suggested it as the way forward on wednesday). MS tried yearly releases with Halo and the model just doesn't work long term for most titles.

And, with 3 devs familiar with the series, they can still rotate but allow experimentation when a dev is off series.

"our desire to keep call of duty on playstation" provided Sony agree to having Game Pass on PS hardware.

EA would have been a better choice than Acti (Because they have better IPs), but now that MS own Acti, I think that buying EA now would be redundant.

Medal of Honor?, Battlefield?, Titanfall?, Apex?, MS already have COD and Halo, and Doom, and Wolfenstein, and Rage.

Dragon Age and Mass Effect?. Outer Worlds, Avowed, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Starfield, Wasteland, Pillars, Diablo.

I feel like the biggest get here would be Dead Space.

If I was MS now, I'll look at a Japanese company, or a kid friendly brand in order to expand that way. Hell, buy Sega, and you get both.

The only other company I'd look at would be Embracer because of the sheer amount of B grade content.

@Shigurui Well I personally can recognise that a thing is bad, while also recognising I am not exclusively responsible for the situation.

For example: I recycle, but the fate of the planet isn't dependent on whether or not all my recycle goes in the recycle bin. And I can tell others that they should recycle, and complain to governments about improving their policies on the issue.

So I can care, without being crippled by it. Empathy isn't about feeling it all or feeling none of it. It's about recognising how you feel about something but knowing your limits to change it. Managing emotions is a big deal in adult life. And if my limits come down to just reminding a social space, that is by design, fast to move on to the next big thing, that the subject in question used questionable practices to deliver the products being discussed, then OK, I'll use that.

"I don't care how product X gets to Y and the suffering in-between.

Not because I'm heartless"

Heartlessness is literally the absence of concern for the wellbeing of others. I think the problem here is you are projecting your own lack of caring on to others to justify not caring.

Considering that Acti really scaled backed and placed like four or five studios on COD, I'm going to go a head and agree with everything said above.

Reform studios, and revive IPs.

Also, place Raven, Sledgehammer, and the other one on something other than COD, and let COD slip from being an annual release franchise.

In light of this, I'm not so upset with MS buying them. It makes much more sense.

And there's our silverlining.

Bobby's out. At the very least, we can put that talking point, and this man's reign of terror, to an end.

@ultraviolet If we get remasters and sequels for Singularity and Metal Arms, I'll consider this a win.

@themightyant Actually, yeah, I could see that happening.

Short of buying Epic and/or Embracer Group, I don't know how much further MS can go with this.

I am truly shocked.

@Murray @UltimateOtaku91 We would also need to account for remastered but not BC titles, like RE, Dead Island, Metro.

@Stocksy Even worse for the people who bought overpriced digital cat ears. Loss of pride and money.

Just give me proper remasters of the first 5 Silent Hill games and Twin Snakes.

His flesh is seared, just the way I like it.

@themightyant I quickly realised during the Xbox One/PS4 gen, that not only are new games not worth buying on launch, but that I have missed some fantastic games that completely passed me by, that I can pick up for pennies in a sale.

I just picked up Nioh complete with all DLC for around £12, which I've never played before. And I've been having some strong urges to replay the Bioshock games, and since they were on sale on PS4, I've also picked those up so that I can earn some trophies while I re-experience some classics.

So that's how I do my hobby now.

@Kienda Neither Acti or Ubisoft care to change. Abusing staff is actually financially rewarding to both companies, a threat to their revenue, either by boycott or partners dropping them is the only thing that will change them.

Literally, Ubisoft saw an increase of revenue since their abuse allegations, and we had people on this site saying stuff like "yeah. I don't like what Acti did, but I'm going to support the devs by buying the new COD" and it's mental.

This is a non statement because all these companies are putting profit over people. He wants keep the relationship with Acti because of the money, but saying "I support acti in their practices" would likely draw mainstream attention to both companies. And none of them want the attention for this. It's why Sony and Nintendo are extra quiet on the situation beyond a general "doing bad stuff is bad".

@Ocat I'm not sure worrying about employees long term prospects at Activision should be any body's concern. Acti have a long history of firing hundreds of employees to improve their value.

Continuing to prop up Acti's culture and business practices seems like the far more cruel response.

@Shigurui That would assume I was aware of Foxconn before I purchased my console. I still play on my 5 year old Xbox One S. I haven't bought a next gen console.

This is the problem with trying to dismiss my criticism as a virtue signal is you are signalling your virtues at the same time. Only now, without the perceived or wished hypocrisy on my part, we are left with just your virtues being that of indifference to the suffering of others.

Even if I was a massive hypocrite, is being comfortable with suffering, really a good position to take?

@Shigurui Because this article is concerning Ubisoft?

And honestly, I'd pick selectively virtue signalling over being comfortable with an entire workforce threatening suicide because of working conditions.

PSA: Ubisoft abuses staff and have fully embraced microtransactions and NFTs.

I've done 3D. I've done motion controls. And I don't want VR.

The novelty always wears off. Once your eyes or body starts to fatigue, that's it.

And when I use my hobby as downtime and rest with my limited energy, the last thing I need to do is turn it in to something more draining. It's why I've avoided buying a VR kit for other hardware.

@Ryu_Niiyama It was a reimagining. It's like what the RE2 remake is to the original RE2, if the remake was a very poor COD clone with a RE2 skin.

@Bartig I have, and I also played it back on the N64, when it launched on the 360 (nearly 100% it but lost my save progress), and even jumped back in with the Rare collection.

The Perfect Dark remaster is the reason I'm excited about a Goldeneye remaster because it gives you an idea of how much better the game can be with a handful of QoL features.

@__jamiie I think we can say that for the last few years, there's been a slew of issues, like covid and renegotiation of contracts. And Rare themselves would have been busy with SoT, Battletoads, and Everwild since before 2017. The team that's doing the remaster could be the team that worked on Battletoads, which only launched in 2020. So that time line makes sense.

We do know Rare had finished the remaster in 2007ish, and blamed Nintendo, and that by 2010 Eurocom and Activision had remade the game. All points to everybody except Nintendo being on board to reviving the game.

Not to mention that with Nintendo being out of the way, the game does in fact seem to be prepping to launch. Nintendo was most definitely the main obstacle to seeing Goldeneye get a re-release.

@NotoriousWhiz He's 5 and he does struggle, so I have to help a lot. There are parts I still struggle with lol. He really likes Banjo Kazooie too, but we both find that harder. And he's just started Ratchet and Clank PS4 which I can thankfully put on an easier setting.

Though I never completed many games when I was young, stuff like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario 64 were special because I actually managed to complete them. Then there's stuff like Wonder Boy that was too hard for me as a child but I completed it easily when they Remastered it. So for me, it was just about the trying.

I am not calm.

The 360 remaster is all I want and need. Something very faithful, but touched up.

And to people complaining, it's not always about you. New releases are always coming out. You have yours.

But stuff like this is still really cool, for both older players who want to go back and re-experience this content, and new players who are too young to have had the chance the first time round.

I explicitly bought 3D All Stars, against my own policies, specifically so that my son could experience games like Mario 64,and he loves it. It doesn't look pretty, it doesn't play as smooth as modern games, but it's all new to him. And he's not shallow enough to judge games on polygons and particles.

And quite frankly, with modern games being microtransaction cosmetic filled, and half finished trash, I'd pick a janky but completed classic any day.

Having to release a concept trailer before full production has started, to attract contractors, because you don't want to keep full time staff, and because you deem every game to be a AAA sized project, isn't really a situation I'm very sympathetic to.

@PhhhCough

An article highlighting the issue back in ancient 2014.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/03/01/why-its-scary-when-0-15-mobile-gamers-bring-in-50-of-the-revenue/

A video about how "optional F2P cosmetics" directly hurts people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34GF-NdIX4E

@Stocksy I don't blame consumers. I see them as victims. I don't call them whales because I think it's cool. I call them whales because that is the term that the industry uses, it is the term the industry invented, it is the way that the industry views them. I do blame corporations for these business practices and I'm regularly calling them out for them.

@Bobobiwan it is a shame. I'm all for "free DLC" to keep MP communities from splitting, but F2P and microtransactions have never been about that. That was more of a happy consequence.

I've never bought any micros or battle passes, and I've never let my son have any too. Which isn't easy because he see's his friends and cousins running around with all the skins under the sun, and he doesn't quite understand why I refuse to let him have any.

@Bobobiwan Whalemilk. It's juicy and plentiful.

Why take an honest amount from everyone, when you can take everything from those who are condititioned to throw money at you?.

Killzone, 2360 (Colourised)

@NEStalgia Now I'm dreaming of a universe where armour customisation in Halo went the decal route instead of the skin route. Including a rifle decal that is a roman numeral kill counter that actually works and updates in game.

But I'm not a game designer, so my ideas are clearly not good.

These games don't look bad, I'd just rather spend a bit of money to get something that's currently on sale, that I actually have a drive to play.

Again, I think online play should go free, and GwG folded in to GP. These titles just don't feel like they add much value to the service.

"One common suggestion seems to be for 343 to allow players to turn off cosmetics — similar to the toggle option in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. And on the other side of the fence, many have reminded everyone how Halo has always had a bit of a silly side over the years, like the pizza slice gun skin in Halo 5: Guardians."

And Players complained about those cosmetics too.

The issue here (besides microtransactions being a predatory, exploitative, and game design breaking practice) is art consistency and suspension of disbelief.

If Kratos or Andrew Ryan ran around with cat ears, it would stick out like a sore thumb.

Granted this is more serious in campign modes, but when every game is a neon coloured, cat eared experience, these games lose their identity and uniqueness.

They lose their artistic identity.

@NEStalgia I'm with you that families should be able to support the entire family with one salary. I've done stay at home, work from home, and full time, and none of it is easy.

I don't see that as a problem from women's liberation. I see that as a problem caused by capitalism and governments.

@NEStalgia In an article about sexism online, your solution appears to be (and please correct me if I'm wrong) to kick women out of the work place and put them back at home to raise the kids?

@Korgon But both create an unfriendly environment. And I'd argue it's easier to ignore something wriiten than it is to ignore someone yelling at you personally.

Any other kind of company would remove you if you were being verbally disruptive. I don't see why an online service provider should be forced to allow more than any other company.

@Korgon "but I don't agree with the idea of any company being able to control what people say and don't say online."

Every online space is controlled by the owning company. Even here. Even the "free speech" social networks have TOS.

https://www.purexbox.com/rules

It is the best way to cultivate a community. It's either that, or every space gets 4chan level of quality.

@themightyant Yeah, I don't like the "just mute" answer. People shouldn't have to mute others (because we should all have a decent level of social skills to be able to respect others) and I feel like it takes away from the whole reason to be online.

Playing Halo 2 and 3 was super special because the only way to talk to your friends, was to risk talking to strangers. Which gave the polygon spartans a personality. Fighting against a silent player is like fighting a bot, and we could do that offline.

This is really the reason schools and sports are super important. It should be a chance for kids to learn key social skills and to be able to be competitive without being toxic. Anyone acting like those in the article, obviously failed to learn those skills (whether that's their's or their school's failing is a completely different topic).

@themightyant Strangers on the street aren't competing against you. If you are playing a sport (digitally or IRL), you can banter, you can get competitive, you just don't get abusive, racial, sexual, or otherwise, and if you do, you apologise (which coincidentally, from what I saw on that twtter thread, the guys did apologise).

@JetmanUK I'm all for banter and trash talk, but these two are just completely toxic and deserve each other.

@UltimateOtaku91 Releasing a closed ecosystem console now would be extremely foolish. The smart money is on a streaming service.

It's almost as if they want me to go indie only.

Considering the other big FPS' with boring, tired tropes can get a 9 out of IGN, I'm guessing they are upset it didn't come with a cheque.

Watching the greedy squirm always warms my cockles.

@LtSarge The issue is they aren't normally unintrusive. Content gets carved out, and whole in-game ecomonies get designed around them. And even when the game isn't super scummy, the whole business model is based around exploiting a handful of vulnerable people.

It also mentally trains younger kids to be more receptive to this. We're quite fortunate because we are looking outside in to this, but younger gamers will just be born addicted to this practice.

Especially since covid, and our increased need to be online, I've seriously been considered having an outright ban on F2P games in my house.

@themightyant I complained about horse armour back in the day, and in retrospect, horse armour is benign compared to the things people defend today.

Like, at least horse armour was a single direct transaction. You paid a set amount of money, and got a set piece of content. Compared to RNG lootboxes, or convoluted or timed battle passes, or endless online markets of uninspired cosmetics that exist purely for the money, I'd be happy if horse armour was the worst thing that existed.